Eta
by avablizzard597
Summary: The shadow world of the shinobi is an imperfect place. Murder is meaningless and compassion is rare. However, even in the darkest places hope exists.  When the shinobi way of life- good and bad is threatened, only the most complete sacrifice will save it
1. Chapter 1

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_My breath came in short and sharp bursts as I looked up at the teenager from my knees._

"_Kabuto? What are you doing here?"_

_I shook my head, disregarding the thought, "Actually, it doesn't matter. You need to get Sasuke back to the village." _

_Desperation laced my tone as I spoke to the bespectacled teen, _"_He was trying to defect to Sound."_

_As I spoke, unease began growing in me but I couldn't place why. Kabuto's face remained full of sympathy and understanding as he delivered his next words,_

"_Oh I know Naruto-kun... I am here to help him."_

_A wave of despair washed over me at the proclamation. __I was so tired. _

_Too tired. _

_It had taken everything I had to subdue Sasuke and now it would be for nothing. I was on my knees, fighting unconsciousness and the signs of severe chakra exhaustion, every tissue in my body aching from using the Kyuubi. __I couldn't even pretend I would fight._

_I watched as the teenager I had trusted, that I had liked, scooped Sasuke up and started walking away.__Suddenly he stopped. Without turning around, he said,_

"_You should know Lord Orochimaru extends his welcome to you as well"_

_I was about to reply with an acerbic comment about traitors when he continued, _"_He also wants you to know that he can give you the full use of your legs"_

__

My world stopped.

__

The second he delivered those words, it was as if Konoho stopped existing. My mind was only occupied with trying to verify the truthfulness of the statement. _It was entirely possible._

_Orochimaru was an expert in kinjutsu and at one point, he headed the Research Department within Konoho. He could know a means that the village was unwilling to perform on me. __I knelt on the floor paralyzed by the offer._

_Kabuto turned around sympathetic smile still etched his face,_

"_Well?"_

* * *

**Prologue**

Healer Yamada Mosqueda looked down at the rough haired, fourteen year old sat on the bed in his office. The teenager studiously avoided looking at him. He kept his eyes locked past the window in a far away gaze.

"So Naruto, have you noticed any change in the amount of time you are able to walk unaided?"

The Healer's voice remained clear and matter of fact. He found sympathy just annoyed Naruto. They would get through this much more easily if he was frank.

"No, not really." Naruto's voice sounded distant and distracted, as if he wasn't really there.

Mentally rolling his eyes, the Healer tried to drag more information out of his patient,

"Your daily routine remains the same?" he prompted.

He received a nod, still without eye contact,

"So you start off the day walking with the aid of your cane. When you can no longer control your legs you use your wheelchair. You remain capable of around an hour of gentle movement with the cane, correct?" He noticed Naruto's jaw tightening at the mention of his wheelchair.

"Yeah, that's about right" Naruto said.

Really, he should be used to this, thought the healer.

He had personally been giving Naruto full monthly assessments for at least 7 years,

"You still find movement more efficient when you channel chakra through your legs?" he asked

"Yeah" Naruto said, his eyes still fixed on the skyline.

"No adverse effects from your daily injections?" he asked

"Apart, from the fact they hardly do anything!" Naruto's voice abruptly lost the distracted tone as he snapped at the healer.

_Well at least that's some spirit Yamada thought_,

"Well, I have all the samples I need and we've done all of your test's so your free to go." Moving back to his desk he started adding the notes into Naruto's large paper file.

As Naruto lowered himself back into his wheelchair and made his way out of the office the healer looked up to watch him. Just as he was approaching the door, he called out to him. He had been putting this conversation off. Even though he wasn't required to, he felt that it was only right that this should come from him.

"Naruto wait. Before you go I have something I want to discuss with you." A slight gravity entered his voice.

Naruto noticed it because when he stopped and turned around, he looked directly at him.

"Yes Healer Mosqueda," Naruto said, curiosity touching his tone.

"I know we've touched on this topic before but with your academy graduation exam coming up, well..." He left the sentence open.

"Yeah, what about it?" There was a slight weight to Naruto's voice.

"You still want to become a Combatant Ninja," he sighed.

He had hoped the reality of the upcoming exams would have brought him to his senses. He continued,

"Look Naruto I'm aware you have an ambition, and I hate to be an obstacle in that, but ethically I am obligated."

"The bar I placed on you attending the taijutsu portion of your academy lessons is going to extend to the physical combat portion of your graduation exam, just as it has with your end of year assessments so far." He stopped, preparing himself for whatever Naruto would throw at him.

"I guessed as much."

And clearly, Naruto had.

He looked totally unfazed by the statement. If anything, he looked like he was waiting for the Healer to get to the point.

"If you apply for a Combatant Ninja position the combat portion of your exams are worth 50%." The Healer spoke slowly as if Naruto hadn't fully understood the situation.

Seeing the continued stare, he elaborated, if only to make the significance clear,

"You will need an overall minimum of 45% to pass. That means that you will have to get no less than a 90% average in the exams you are sitting to even scrape a pass." It was as if he didn't understand how low his chances were.

He held Naruto's gaze, willing him to change his mind. Moments later he gave up exasperated,

"Naruto I just want you to be prepared. I don't want you to feel like this has been sprung on you."

Finally responding Naruto said,

"It's okay, I can do this."

"I nearly managed it in last year's end of year assessment. This year I have been working extra hard. I'm gonna do this." There was definite steel to Naruto now.

It wasn't that the Healer doubted that Naruto had worked himself to the bone. The simple fact was that the task was next to impossible.

Those exams were designed to be hard. Achieving the overall 45 minimum requirement was no small feat. A mark of around 70 was typical of a high achieving student, in the exam they were most comfortable.

Healer Yamada could think of only one student who had achieved a mark over 90 in an exam since the system had started. While the achievements of Uchiha Itachi were impressive, considering how he ended up, he felt his reservations were warranted.

"Okay then Naruto... I know you don't want to hear this but there are other paths open to you. Path's where someone with your talents would truly excel. I understand that in a village such as ours; where strength is glory, it may seem lesser but that simply isn't true." He would have continued but Naruto cut him off.

"Look, I've heard all this before. I know what I want. Everyone looks at me; see's a cripple and tells me I can't do it. Well I can. I will."

"I am going to be the strongest ninja this village has ever seen and you had better believe that!"

With a surprising strength and dexterity, he sharply spun the wheel chair around and exited the healers' office. 

* * *

As Healer Yamada watched Naruto leave the hospital grounds he pondered on the boy. He honestly believed that he knew Naruto better than anyone else in the village did. They were not close. At times Naruto probably hated him. By virtue of his job, he had to highlight Naruto's disability almost constantly.

As the highest-ranking medical and psychological technician in Konoho Hospital, he was tasked with the monthly physical inspections of Naruto. He checked the flow of chakra through his seal. He examined the state of his body and his nervous system. He also did his bimonthly psych-evaluations for Internal Security.

The crux of Naruto's problems was his nervous system. From a young age healers had noticed Naruto's slow ambulatory development. With tests it became clear that Naruto had a genetic fault that meant the motor control of his lower body was flawed. His brain would send the messages telling his legs what to do just fine. The muscles in his legs developed just fine as well. Naruto genetic quirk meant that the messages would become incredibly jumbled upon reaching his lower body.

The symptoms of this jumbling meant that after any prolonged use he would begin to feel intense pins and needles and his legs would begin to twitch and spasm. He would also begin to feel a growing phantom pain. After about an hour of gentle activity, like simply walking, the messages would become so jumbled that controlling his legs would be simply impossible (not to mention incredibly painful.) It would usually take a full day of before he would be able to use his legs again.

At first it was thought this might be a symptom of the sealing. It later became clear the only noticeable effect of having the Kyuubi no Kitsune sealed inside of him, was an introduction of filtered chakra to his spiritual energy.

The energy did seem to affect his body by warping his metabolites, though as far as they could tell it was entirely beneficial. His body could produce chakra at an incredible rate, and he healed far faster than the average curve. The problem was that the regenerated cells were inherently flawed.

Mosqueda knew from interviewing Naruto that despite advice, he would stubbornly start each day with his cane. He had advised Naruto to save full use of his legs for situations of necessity. Using common interrogation jutsu, he knew every time Naruto was reduced to the chair he felt a deep sense of failure mixed with an impotent rage. The rage would settle into anxiety that stayed with him the entire time he was in the chair. It would only really abate when he proved to himself that he was a good ninja. All of this was in his reports to Internal Security, as per the requirements for being a prospective ninja.

Mosqueda knew that Naruto worked himself like few would imagine. Being relegated to his chair, he spent all his free time, either reading or practicing techniques. Sadly, if he truly meant to follow this path he would need that kind of unhealthy dedication.

Privately Mosqueda was worried for him. His constant studying as a method of reducing anxiety was typical of compulsive disorders. Internal Security would have noted this but would do nothing.

Ninja lifestyle wasn't exactly conducive of good mental health; they had much worse to deal with. They were only really on the lookout for possible traitors and those who could present a danger to others.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 1**

Sitting in the temperature-controlled dojo I watched, slightly enraptured, as Sakura spun on the ball of her foot. Her long, pink hair twisted through the air as she twirled out of the proctors reach to escape a punch. Grinning, she stuck her tongue out at the stoic man. All the while, she slid a single leg backwards, lowering her body under his following high kick. Seamlessly she tried to sweep his planted leg but he recovered quickly and was already sending a fist downwards to meet used an open hand to redirect the force of the blow away from her body whilst rolling away from the proctor. Flipping from the roll, she somersaulted backwards, legs kicking out unnecessarily halfway through. The picture of grace, she landed on her feet, hair spilling around her again.

I loved watching Sakura in hand-to-hand combat. She never seemed to take it seriously; she laughed at odd moments, grinned and pulled the occasional silly face. Even exams didn't stop her.

Her technique wasn't perfect, she wasted too much movement and she had next to zero aggression but she was one of the best in the class. She had the effortless grace of a ballerina and it worked for her. Always in control of her body, even with her flips and twirls, she sucked people into attacking a weakness that wasn't there.

I loved her matches because she didn't look like she was fighting. It was as if she simply liked being in motion. I liked to think she understood that free movement wasn't something to be taken lightly and therefore fully enjoyed the experience. I was probably reading too much into it. At nearly fifteen, I probably liked her matches the most because she was the prettiest in the class.

Whilst the spar continued to play out, I kept an eye on the panel of examiners. The exam was taking part in a large dojo. The walls were made of rich, dark woods and there were more decorations than normal. A long table was placed facing the central large mat, and four men of varying ages were sat at the table watching carefully.

I wasn't familiar with any of them but they would be venerated combat experts in order to be on the examining panel.

On the far left sat a 30-something year old man who looked as if he was carved out of diamond. He wore a glossy, black, bowl haircut and a Jounin flak jacket over a skin tight body suit. Of all the judges, he seemed to be the least bothered with hiding his thoughts. He was smiling and nodding enthusiastically while taking the occasional note. Sat next to him was a long brown haired man, with the all-encompassing pale lavender eyes of a Hyuuga. It wasn't at all surprising that on a panel of taijutsu specialists a member of the Hyuuga family would be present. The man in question seemed to be very restrained, giving nothing of what he thought next seat was occupied by a very elderly man. From his age alone I knew he would be highly considered. To have reached that age, in such a volatile occupation, spoke of last seat was taken by a seemingly very sickly young man. He coughed into his hand regularly but he did seem to perk up on the second exam stage.

The spar was called to a close with the Sakura and the Proctor bowing to each other.

Sakura raced back to the long benches where all the students were sat. Sakura's eyes briefly met mine and my stomach did something funny. I smiled at her which she returned widely. Turning her walk into my direction she was about to reach the bench when she was met by Ino. Her best friend, hugged her and speaking very quickly said,

"Ow I am soo jealous, you aced that! You did much better than I did. I swear my proctor was just plain vicious!"

The two continued to talk as they returned to the bench whilst I watched from the chair annoyed at Ino. Sakura was turning her body in my direction after our eyes met. She wasn't the type to ignore someone; she was too sociable for that. The students welcomed Sakura back to the benches, offering her their thoughts. Sakura seemed to engage everyone simultaneously, holding herself at the centre of attention.

The same proctor called Uchiha Sasuke to the mat to be examined. He rose silently from the back of the benches and began to make his way forward. Unlike in the other exams only Sakura and Ino seemed to bother to wish him good luck. Upon hearing them he paused slightly and offered them a small nod of acknowledgement before continuing.

The physical combat exam took part in three parts. The first of which was a small display of ranged accuracy. Against the far wall stood dummies at various distances and heights from the central mat where Sasuke now stood.

In a flurry of movement, Sasuke began to launch kunai and shuriken from hidden places within his clothing in a continuous stream. His hands blurred as he threw weapon after weapon at a furious pace. All the while, he remained in motion. Ducking and weaving, he proved he was capable of ranged fighting whilst in motion. This wasn't required and no one had attempted it. Typically, it took away from accuracy and that was what mattered most.

When he was finished, I looked at the various dummies. Every weapon had hit dead on the small bull's-eye dot or tightly clustered around it. I heard Sakura give a long, quiet whistle of appreciation and I felt a tightening my gut. It only made it worse that I could understand the appreciation. To have thrown so many, at that pace and keep moving all the while took a lot of talent.

Frankly, it made everyone who came before him look amateur.

The proctor returned to the mat offering Sasuke a selection of wooden, blunted, weapons for their armed-combat portion of the exam. Sasuke selected two kunai and held one in each hand to the slight surprise of the proctor and examiners. The proctor selected the standard single wooden kunai and after placing the box back, returned to the mat.

Sasuke settled into a exotic stance, legs splayed wide, a single arm raised above his head. The elbow was bent sharply with the kunai pointing unerringly at the proctor's heart in an imitation of a stinger. His lowered arm was kept straight, kunai pointing forwards at the proctor's feet.

The proctor began lightly bouncing on his feet and after a moment gave a small nod, signalling that the exam had officially begun.

Immediately Sasuke shot forward. Spinning, he began slashing at the proctor in swift efficient motions. Relentlessly he kept on applying pressure. He looked machine like with his sharp, error free motions. Any attempt to break the flow of attack was quickly turned away. Each of his movements fast and clean, he attacked the proctor in a circular pattern, making the proctor continuously adjust his position. After long moments, the flow of battle remained the same. There hadn't been even the smallest break in Sasuke's endless assault.

As I continued to watch from my wheelchair, the knot in my stomach continued to tighten. Then I heard Sakura whisper to Ino,

"God, Sasuke is _good _at this."

My frustration bloomed fantastically and I tore my eyes away from the match down to my legs. They already burned and twitched from the small amount of work they had been put through in the morning. I couldn't refute her statement. Using a weapon in each hand meant you were unable to block or parry an attack using your hand on an opponent's wrist. You could only evade (which was tricky) or meet an attack blade on blade (which was trickier).

To have kept up such a long assault spoke of polished technique and talent. By now, most people who tried this would have made a slip-up, leaving an opening.

My anxiety building, I mentally clamped down on my wayward thought trails.

So what if I couldn't do that!

Eventually I would be so good at everything else that it simply wouldn't matter. I begun to flick my fingers in familiar handseal motions with a blurring speed that _Sasuke_ could never match. I closed my eyes and concentrated on fluctuating chakra inside my body in various ways, keeping an internal dialogue on the tenketsu I was activating.

No one would be able to touch my performance in the next exam.

* * *

I stood in a corridor with the waiting students carefully maintaining my posture. Whilst the rest of the students chatted their nervousness away, I focused on keeping my balance and the task ahead.

Gathering after lunch for the final exam of the day, we were particularly noisy. Just as the noise level begun to reach a new peak, the main academy instructor Umino Iruka walked down the hallway and stopped in front of us. His presence alone quieted everyone. Giving a smile, he addressed us all,

"Alright, I just came down to wish you all good luck in your exam." Pausing slightly, his eyes scanned each of his students to show that he really meant it.

"I know that we have run over this before but I just wanted to make sure you were all ready. This may be labelled the Ninjutsu Exam but they will be testing you on all chakra based techniques. Each of you will be going in their alone. They will ask you to perform the mandatory techniques, but after that they will open the floor to you to perform any additional techniques you know."

Iruka stopped for a moment, his face growing serious, he expanded,

"Some of you here will already know some extra techniques. It is very important that you show everything you can do. All of you hear are pledging for a Combatant Ninja position. The panel need to properly evaluate your abilities to place you in the most suitable teams. I'm aware that a lot of you have been instructed not to show your techniques if it isn't important. That is why you will be going in alone. It'll just be you and the panel. So show them what you can do!" 

The hallway outside the hall was deathly silent once the exams started. A rather severe looking Chuunin watched over us whilst we waited.

I had spent a moment trying to figure out exactly what he was there to stop us from doing, but I quickly crushed that thought in favour of meditation. Both _The Journal of Tenabi Irishai _and _Thoughts of a Master _agreed that deep meditation would increase short and long-term chakra control.

I was to doing the exam without the aid of either my cane or that chair. I didn't want to give them any reason to down mark me. Actively creating and running a minimal level of chakra through my legs, I controlled the small twitches they gave.

The door opened suddenly, admitting a pale looking student who walked out quietly, eyes on the floor. The Proctor walked out behind him and officially called out my name. A slight shot of adrenaline went through me but I crushed it; it wouldn't help the twitches or my control. Walking in I was surprised by what it looked like. The corridor had been official looking similar to at least 20 other buildings in Konoho.

The actual hall looked like it was built to withstand a bomb.

It was large, with thick cement walls and exposed iron support columns everywhere. The ground, in contrast to most indoor buildings, was composed of dirt so compact it felt like rock. The decorations consisted of a few dummies near the far right wall and that was all. A standard table was placed near the centre of the hall where the four examiners where sat.

Making my way to the table, I spared a moment to look at each of the examiners.

On the far left sat another Hyuuga. This one was older but seemed to be dressed the same as the one from the Physical Combat exam. Unlike the Hyuuga in the taijutsu exam, the veins surrounding his eye sockets bulged out and those odd eyes were glowing. Even as the thought passed through my mind, I was analysing those eyes.

I could only guess that the glowing was caused by channelling chakra to his eyes. It most likely activated an ability that would allow him to analyze some aspect of jutsu.

Sat next to him was an eccentric looking man. His hair was pure white, and stuck directly upwards wildly. His official Konoho headband was slanted so that it covered one eye. The man seemed to be playing with his pen, looking faintly bored.

Next to him was a woman of similar age and delicate features, she wore the outfit marking her as a Healer. Upon meeting her eye, she gave him a warm, encouraging smile. She was probably a chakra specialist. Undoubtedly, she would know exactly how efficient someone was with their techniques.

Lastly, sat the Hokage himself.

I did a double take upon seeing him there but that quickly turned into a smile, which Hiruzen-jiji happily returned.

I knew that the Hokage was widely considered the most talented ninjutsu user in the world, but this made it apparent how seriously he took his passion. To make time to examine every prospective ninja personally, whilst keeping up with the other Hokage duties, took dedication.

My nerves settled somewhat on seeing a friendly face. It did make me reconsider the other examiners again. To be able to sit next to the Hokage as an equal judge in this area told me they would be _very_ talented. Setting my bag out of the way I stood in front of the examiners. It was Hiruzen-jiji, who spoke,

"Uzumaki Naruto you are here for the Ninjutsu portion of your graduation examinations. You will be asked to perform four mandatory techniques, after which we will open the floor for you to perform any additional techniques you are capable of."

Even as the Hokage delivered his official speech, he was grinning slightly at me. Pausing and making a visible effort to straighten his face he continued,

"Okay. If you're ready, can you perform the cloning technique to create a replica of yourself?"

Nodding slightly to myself, I took a second to close my eyes and gather my focus.

Feeling myself centre, my fingers blurred through short-cut handseal motions. Too fast for most eyes to follow I was through the six necessary hand seals.

I had mixed the _exact _amount of spiritual and physical energies, smoothly creating the chakra necessary and shaped it to my will whilst the handseals changed the chakra's frequency. Complete, and sure I had emitted no chakra to telegraph the jutsu I stepped to the left whilst an image of me stepped from a superimposed position, in an exact mirror to the right.

Each of the examiners took a second and then made a few notes. When they were finished the Hokage addressed me again,

"Okay, you can dispel your technique. Can you now perform the cloning technique on an inanimate object?"

Dispelling me illusion I prepared myself for my next task. I was aware that the other students would have performed this technique using either kunai or shuriken. That was what we practiced in class, but I had to prove I was far above the curve in order to stand a chance.

Speaking up I asked,

"Can I borrow a document from you for a moment?"

I noticed a few raised eyebrows at the adventurous move. The Hokage selected an unimportant document on exam procedure and I walked forward to collect it. Once I had it my hand, I stayed at the desk and took another second to gather myself. Placing the paper back on the desk between the examiners and me, my fingers flowed through the first four seals of the technique. Pausing on the fourth, I applied the chakra I had created to the document using both hands.

Eyes closed, I focused my senses on how my chakra was telling me the document reflected light. After a snap second, I felt I had it. Opening my eyes, I completed the final two hand seals of the technique. Finished I seemingly pulled a very fragile copy of the document from the original.

I stayed at the desk allowing the examiners to analyze it. The Healer seemed to be most openly impressed.

The characters were a little blurry but definitely readable. Most students used an item they were intimately familiar with, like the kunai we used to practice. To have used something of such detail, on the fly, was very impressive. I just had to hope they considered it 90%+ impressive.

The copy disappearing, the Hokage allowed a few moments for each of the examiners to make their notes. Finished, he continued the exam,

"Well done Naruto! If you are ready, can you now perform the replacement technique with the red dummy by the wall? It has already been prepared."

Looking over, I saw the dummy in question; it stood about 30 feet from my place in front of the table. I could just about make out the small tag attached to it where a unique seal would be placed. For the first time in the exam I felt a small bloom of nerves.

It wasn't that I couldn't perform the technique. I was only worried about the state I would be in once it was done. Undoubtedly, I would be able to continue but this exam was important (especially for me) and I couldn't afford to give them any reason to mark me down.

Ready, I focused my chakra, forming it into a string I sent it to where the seal was placed. Feeling it connect, my fingers flashed through the necessary handseals and I sent a surge of chakra through my body. Instantly feeling the effect of the jutsu, my muscles began to thrum with barely repressed energy. Quickly, before the jutsu finished, I blasted myself at tremendous speed towards the dummy.

The speed, lent by the jutsu, was so great that the chakra string I raced down was my only method determining where I was. In less than half a second, I had replaced myself with the dummy. The chakra string had slingshot the wooden dummy to my previous position.

Getting over from the slight disorientation, I focused on the bigger problem. The rapid movement had caused my legs to burn and twitch as if I had just electrified them. I felt a moment of unsteadiness but I kept myself as still as possible.

Carefully, I made my way to the central mat, trying to hide the shakiness in my stride. By the time I had made my way back the examiners had finished their notes.

"And finally can you now perform the transformation technique to alter your appearance"

My eyes stayed on the Hokage for a moment. As I looked at him, I realized what had caught my attention.

It was that slight look of sympathy.

_For fuck's sake!_ I silently screamed to myself.

Who was I fooling? I was in front of a panel of experts. Each of them would be a master at evaluating movement. Of course they noticed my lack of composure, no matter how well I concealed it. My eyes shot across the line of judges. The Hyuuga still looked like his face was carved from stone but that meant nothing.

Mr out-of –control hair looked like he was doodling on the corner of his note pad (which I noticed was full of writing).My eyes stopped on the healer and I felt my hopes drop. There was a clear softness to her face. In fact she looked like she was prepared to leave her seat any minute now.

I felt despair envelope me like a wave.

No, no, no, _No!_

I had worked so hard for this. I wasn't an incompetent. _I_ _wasn't goddammit! _

I had to **show **them that I was without match in this field.

The kid gloves had to come off! I would push even my limits to make up for this slip. I closed my eyes and created a tiny amount of chakra. With a level of control that even some Jounin didn't posses, I sent it up my spine. With expert precision, I used chakra to coat the Frontal Lateral Cortex of my brain.

_Surgical Chakra Expression by Senju Tsunade _had named this phenomenon "Ninja's Requiem."

I felt my focus tighten. My self-awareness skyrocketed. I could sense the pulse of pressure each of my heartbeats sent through my blood stream. I could even faintly sense the slight chakra expulsion from the Hyuuga's eyes.

When I opened my eyes, I noticed all of the examiners had their eyes locked onto mine. The healer looked like she wanted to leap out of her chair immediately.

Sending a steady stream through the localised circuit in my brain I cut out all distractions, a slip up here would result in brain damage(in the most important area to boot). Splitting my focus three ways I kept up the circuit and created some more chakra. Using my increase in functions, I discarded handseals and mentally changed the frequency of my chakra while bringing it to my skin.

I focused on every aspect of my new appearance and double-checked that I was spilling absolutely no chakra. Before the judges eyes I would have become a beautiful blonde twenty-something dressed in provocative clothing. I paid increased detail to a light amount of makeup. I even included a slight pulse in her neck, a steady movement in her chest, plus hair and clothing movement.

The illusion would be nothing short of perfect and it would need to be. I had purposely picked the most eye-catching of illusions. Most ninja used an illusion that was as mundane as possible, something that didn't attract attention.

Unfortunately, most ninja were on the lookout for that. So if you had the talent for it (and goddammit I did) you could employ a bit of the reverse psychology that the Sandaime himself encouraged. People would naturally be drawn to noticing me but the illusion was perfect and they would already mentally be discounting me as a potential enemy anyway.

Walking forward a little and flicking my hair a little, I raised my hand to look at polished fingernails to show I was capable of synchronizing movement with the illusion.

"Impressive Naruto. You can dispel that illusion now," the Hokage said and I promptly did so.

I continued running chakra through the circuit in my brain. I saw the Hokage raise his eyebrows a little at the move. I was certain that I was no longer giving off any chakra, so I'm guessing that with the illusion dropped he had noticed that my eyes were still glowing minimally in the tell tale sign of "The Requiem".

"Okay Naruto, the floor is now open for you to perform any additional techniques that you know"

I cracked a grin; it was finally time to show these people that they had no reason to feel pity for me.

It was time to show them a performance they would remember.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 2**

I felt my world drop out from underneath me. A numbness over came me and I became aware of my eyes tearing up. I didn't even try to stop the tears as I looked down at the exam results in my hands. I felt panic claw at the next breath that vanished and I felt myself become resigned and depressed.

I was a failure

They might as well have just given me a slip with that simple message on it. Why waste my time reading through these results and calculating my averages. The official letter rejecting my application for a Combatant Ninja position would come later. An entirely pointless waste of paper, these test marks told me that just fine. 

Combat Exam- 0 _(Absence)_

Ninjutsu Exam- 98*

Written Exam- 100*

Survival- 50 

There were three letters behind the sheet. Almost mocking me, the first congratulated me on my performance in the ninjutsu examination and stated that I had achieved the highest mark of the year group and a personal commendation from the examining panel. The second stated much the same for the written exam.

I turned my head to look through the window into the afternoon sky, vision blurred by tears. I spent a moment just wishing they had given us our results in private rather than part of a career guidance session. Turning my head back, I looked at Iruka sensei sat behind the desk that separated us. I saw that look of sympathy he seemed to reserve for me and in a surge, I wanted to either knock him out or just bolt out of this meeting and hide away from the world.

After a while he seemed to sense I had composed myself enough and started to speak,

"Naruto whatever it is that you are thinking, I just want to make one thing very clear." He paused for emphasis before continuing,

"These are _excellent _results"

At that I couldn't contain myself and let out a snort of derision.

"No Naruto these really are. These exams are meant to be difficult. Over ninety in any of these exams is almost unheard of. I personally have never had the pleasure of teaching someone who managed a 100 in any exam". I just couldn't take it and cut him off,

"But it's not enough! With the weighting for..." he clearly wasn't done talking because he silenced me with a gesture.

It was probably for the best. As I started to vocalize my predicament, I had felt myself becoming almost hysterical.

"Yes Naruto that is what we are here to discuss." Taking a deep breath his face seemed to become more official. I quietly sighed in relief. Official I could deal with without falling apart.

"Naruto, you have made an application for a Combatant Ninja position, as you should already know for a starting Gennin position the academy final examinations results have a weighted consideration of 50% for your combat score 30% for your ninjutsu score and 10% each for your written and survival scores."

"Unfortunately your marks leave you with an overall consideration of 44. You will be unlikely to be offered a place with that mark as the minimum for an entry level position is 45."

The moment he said those words I felt like the breath had been knocked out of me. It shouldn't have but it did. Even though I already knew it, hearing it seemed to make it real. Once again I felt a panic begin in me and my stomach seemed to be burning acid.

"Naruto, you shouldn't feel dissuaded. These marks are nothing to sneeze at. And you still have many doors open to you."

"A starting Medical Ninja position gives the exams a weighting of 50% Ninjutsu, 30% Written and 10% each for survival and combat. Your marks would be considered as an 84, one of the highest opening scores they would have ever received. Healer Mosqueda has even personally approached me to ask for you to consider a late application."

Iruka seemed to read the lack of enthusiasm on my face so he continued his voice gaining more emphasis,

"Naruto, you are too smart to buy into this village's obsession with legendary Combat Ninja. Even if you do still want to be on a cell, a healer position doesn't close that role to you. I mean look at Senju Tsunade. She began as a healer and still is one first and foremost, but she later became known as the world's most dangerous hand to hand opponent."

At this point I just looked away from him; I could barely take anymore of him trying to spin my failure into something commendable. Though I heard him continue,

"It doesn't have to be a Healer Naruto. The Internal Security Ninja are practically salivating at your 100%. I've had messages from the Cryptology Department about the mathematical reasoning portion of your written exam. The Barrier and Research teams were very impressed with your knowledge of sealing; you have so many doors open to you. Please stop focusing on the one that is shut."

I was pretty sure that I had controlled myself enough to be able to speak without my voice shaking and to be honest I was ready to put an end to this meeting,

"Iruka sensei, I know all of this. Hell _you_ have told me all of this before. The truth of the matter is that every one of the people in those departments either once was a Combatant Ninja, or they wanted to be one."

"I don't even need to think about this. I'm going to retake the exams as an external candidate next year and reapply for a position as a post academy student."

"But Naruto, how are you going to afford that? External..." I'd had enough of this and raising my voice a little cut him off saying,

"Iruka sensei, if you don't mind I would like to leave. Maybe we can talk about this after I've had a while to think."

His face seemed to settle at that and he nodded a little to himself,

"Okay Naruto, that's fine. Maybe giving you a little time would be for the best. But I want you to seriously think about your options. Don't just dismiss them out of hand."

Saying my goodbye's I turned my chair around and made my way out of his office. 

* * *

My results stayed in my lap as I wheeled my chair across the smooth stone pathway of the market district. The air was gentle but with nothing to support the paper every breeze and eddy threatened to lift the envelope away. I could have easily placed them into one of my pockets or pouches but I didn't. I almost wanted a passing breeze to just snatch the envelope away. As if that would just undo the results and the despair they had brought on me. I made my way steadily to one of my favourite spots as I passed through the market. I couldn't help but notice the looks I received. The way one person's eyes would linger a fraction on me. The slight distaste on another face and the studied effort of the uncomfortable to avoid looking at me.

All because they looked at me and saw a cripple. They looked at me and saw an incompetent. And they were right.

I wasn't competent.

I was a failure.

To be precise, I was a failure because I was a cripple.

I began to activate various difficult tenketsu patterns to distract myself and sped up a little. 

Six hours later found me sat on the roof of the Central Administration Tower. When he saw me earlier in the afternoon, Sandaime-jiji took one look at my face and silently escorted me to my favourite spot. He stayed with me a moment to silently smoke his pipe before squeezing my shoulder and returning to his duties. For those six hours I had fallen into the deepest of meditations. Right now I didn't want to think.

After those hours I had finally managed my task. The meditation had leant me a preternatural focus and at this moment I was flowing chakra through my entire body. My chakra followed along the connections of my entire nervous system; it raced along my circulatory system, through my muscle fibres and across all layers of my skin. At this point I could even feel the slight pooling in the physical component where my celestial gates would be located.

Having mastered the awareness of my body but still not ready to start thinking I turned my focus to what my chakra was telling me of the world around me.

It was dark outside, I could tell by the lack of light energy interacting with my chakra. I could feel my chakra lifting off me a little as trace amounts of it changed frequency to the wind nature that was my natural predisposition. The altitude of being on the tallest building in Konoho and the added air currents that brought almost called out to my chakra now that I was focusing on it. I could sense the collective chakra emanations of the village. Focusing I could feel that currently most of it was being produced from the direction where I knew the hospital was. Focusing elsewhere I brought my attention to the direction of the market which was practically a hole in my senses. Merchants liked to live there to stay close to their shops and to the other traders. As such it was mainly a civilian area. I kept my attention in that area straining my abilities to feel anything in a test for myself. I remained that way for a while when I felt it. 

The characteristic tiny of surge of chakra made my eyes snap open just to check that it was the market area I had felt it from.

Yep, definitely the market area.

Slowly starting to release the chakra I had circuiting me I allowed myself to think during my cool down. It was odd, that chakra surge was definitely characteristic of advanced sealing array activation. It wasn't odd in and of itself but a seal like that coming from the market district was a little unexpected. Ninja didn't tend to live there, it was pretty exclusively traders. I suddenly thought of one of the most common Ninja sayings

__

Ignoring what your mind is telling you will cost you the mission.

Ignoring what your gut is telling you will cost you your life.

As the thought passed my mind, my frown increased a little. I knew that a ninja living in the area and practising a technique was entirely possible however my gut was telling me it was odd.

Fuck it; I didn't really want to return to my empty bungalow yet anyway.

* * *

If anyone could see, they would think the scene was very strange. It was nearly two o'clock in the morning and I was hanging around a house.

I was a pretty good judge of distance and direction. I was sure that this was the house I had felt the spike from on the tower. It was actually a small store with two housing floors on top. It wasn't a weapon smiths or somewhere I would imagine a ninja or ex-ninja living.

It was a stationary shop.

Running my hand along the building and centering myself I focused all my deductive reasoning to figuring out what the advanced seal array I felt activate was doing. There was slightly higher heat radiation from the building than was strictly normal. No matter how hard I strained I could hear no sound and feel no chakra or light from the building.

At that point I was sure a sealing array enveloped the house. I deduced it converted any energy leaving the building into heat with a deliberately inefficient conversion ratio. I could think of no positive reason a stationary shop, would have for using a privacy seal.

Thoroughly spooked by that point I decided to just report the shit and let someone else deal with it.

Just as I was turning a hand clamped around my mouth with bruising force. I instantly tried to pry the hand from me but a powerful arm circled around my neck, crushing my upper torso backwards into my chair. I instantly tried to fight.

Flailing, I tried to punch person behind me but I couldn't land a solid hit from the awkward angle. Changing tactics, I kicked out of my chair. Both my attacker and I were sent sideways to the floor but he kept his hold on my head.

By now, the pressure he was producing was enough that I could feel the bones in my jaw and skull creaking.

Through blinding panic, I fought for air, clawing at the arm. Suddenly I noticed a burning in my throat. Once I noticed that I realised that it wasn't a bare hand covering my mouth. It was a cloth! My heartbeat seemed to triple in an instance and I fought, scratched and kicked like an animal for release.

I could feel myself weakening.

His legs circled around my upper thighs to still my movement. Then I felt a sharp pain as my attacker used his other hand to plunge a needle with vicious force into my neck.

With surprising speed, I felt my whole body begin to violently spasm as my eyes rolled. I began to froth but the cloth still clamped around my mouth just meant that was another thing to choke on. I wasn't even panicked anymore, I just felt confused. 

I felt myself begin to fade. 

Slowly, I felt myself die.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 3**

Up until this point I had never realized waking up could be this difficult. It felt like my whole body was underneath an ocean of molasses. Slowly I managed to wake and my thoughts and memories came back.

I remembered the seal array. I remembered the attack.

The second I remembered the needle and the reaction it caused I froze. I had felt my whole body spasm. I had felt my heart clench unrelentingly and stop beating. The cloth had already lowered my breathing to nothing.

I was supposed to be dead. There was no way I was supposed to survive an attack like that.

As I came to that realization, I recognized how bad this situation could be. Remaining absolutely still I focused on what my senses where telling me about where I was. Impossible to miss, was that I was completely naked and had been thrown in a corner of the room.

I quietly thanked whatever Angel was looking after me. I had ended up facing the wall, and it had most likely hidden my waking. The floor beneath me was cold, damp, brick and so was the wall in front of me. The condition and temperature of the wall and the floor suggested that I was in a cellar. The sounds coming behind me told me I was not alone.

Whoever was behind me sounded like they were cutting into a very large piece of meat. The smell of blood was overpowering and my imagination provided me with all sorts of disturbing scenarios.

Unfortunately, as my mind began churning through the little information I had to work with I began to realize my imagination was probably actually quite accurate. The blood I smelt was _very_ fresh, there was no under smell of the Cadaverine that would be present in flesh even a few hours after the animal had been killed. The potency of the smell also told me there was entirely too much blood. Any meat bought in a store would have been drained first and personal hunting in the forests surrounding the village was strongly discouraged.

There was also the fact that my gut was telling me it was a human body my attacker was cutting.

For a while, I just lay there trying to gather any more information on my situation. I was fairly sure there was only a single person behind me. I had briefly toyed with the idea of using chakra sensing but I decided against it. Even though the chakra I would need to produce would be minimal, I was not in a situation that encouraged any kind of risk taking.

I decided that the body was on a table. The way the sounds echoed in the room suggested that the room was not cluttered.

After twenty minutes (in which I had realized that the body wasn't being cut, but skinned) the rooms other occupant started making his way in my direction. I had already decided on my course of action and waited until the person was close enough.

My heart was trying to beat its way out of my chest but I did my best to ignore it and focused on the heavy footfalls that got nearer. Just as the steps stopped in front of me and I rolled around and opened my mouth. I had time to register a young, male, face, twisting in shock.

The second I turned to face the man I flared my chakra and with a deft twist of focus I released the matrix of energy that I always kept in my left lung.

_The Art of Success_ had hinted at this technique, but painstaking research and experimentation had allowed me to recreate it.

Within my left lung, under a matrix of my chakra, I kept hundreds of cubic decimetres of chakra-laced air compressed and sealed. The technique meant that in an emergency I could use an exhalation based wind technique instantly.

A blast of air rocketed out of my mouth with the roar of a thousand lions. It hit the man like a train, picking him up and carrying him the 20 metres to the far wall where he slammed with punishing force.

Even prepared for the effects, I felt incredibly dizzy. The release of air from within me had introduced a massive amount of new air into the sealed room. The pressure had skyrocketed in the room pushing against my chakra enforced eardrums and causing my head to spin. My peripheral vision told me that the door of the room had blasted out to relieve the pressure.

I made sure to split some focus on it, in case there were others in the house who would have certainly noticed that. The rest of my attention was focused on the man in front of me, who had quite amazingly recovered and was running at me in a drunken path.

He seemed to be bleeding from every orifice. His nose was smashed beyond recognition, and to be frank I had absolutely no idea how he was standing, yet alone running.

I used the time of him crossing the room to activate _The Requiem_ and prepared a second technique without handseals to telegraph. Half way to getting up by when he reached me, my enemy used the momentum of his run to swing a booted foot directly into my chest. I fell away from him in a roll and prepared myself.

Let the fucker think he had scored a hit.

I had caught leg, surreptitiously reducing the force and used the contact to administer my second technique.

I glanced up from my roll and saw my attacker snap his head around, alarm written all over his face. My sound based genjutsu had activated making my attacker hear the phantom sound of hundreds of kunai racing through the air behind him and surging his adrenaline to induce panic.

Using the opening, I blasted myself at him. I had a second to see him realise his error and begin to face me again when my chakra layered knife hand slammed into his throat. We crashed into the floor, his spittle and phlegm covering my face as his trachea collapsed under the blow.

My body was still weak from the lethal chemicals still floating in it, after a second of rolling the man somehow managed to plant his legs between us, and kicked me off him. I managed to reduce the force of my landing by tucking into a roll.

Looking up I saw my attacker staggering to his feet, his ears and eyes trickled fluid and his mouth sprayed a bloody mucus as he coughed into the floor.

I realised the man must be an expert at instantly strengthening his body with chakra. Every one of my attacks had been a finisher. Fuck, I had half expected that knife hand to decapitate him!

Still, he was not in a good way and I wasn't done yet. Giving him no time to recover my hand felt around floor around me for anything. I grasped onto something metal and heavy. Swinging my arm, I used chakra to enhance the contractions of the muscle groups. The metal... _bed pan? _whizzed out of my hand at tremendous speed and struck the man squarely in the head with a ringing sound, sending him sprawling. I surged towards him on shaky legs.

I scrabbled on top of him sitting on his chest. He instantly tried to wrestle me off but being completely naked worked in my advantage, as he had nothing to grip. A few seconds of struggling found me with my hands clenching around his head. The skin on skin contact confirmed my suspicions; I could feel him running chakra through his body to strengthen it.

Seizing my advantage, I pushed my thumbs deep into his eye sockets turning the soft tissue to pulp. I ignored the messy gurgle he let out as his destroyed throat tried to scream. Rocking my whole body with the motion, I picked up his head and slammed it into ground underneath us.

Again and again I slammed his head with the force of my entire body into the ground.

Finally, I felt his motions still.

For a few seconds all I could hear was my breathing, sharp and deep with exertion. I allowed myself to relax, when suddenly a shot of fear went through me..._the door!_ I had allowed it to drop from my attention!My whole body twisted around drawing an excruciating pain from my side but I ignored it in favour to straining every sense I had on the , it was empty.

I spent a couple seconds stretching out my awareness to the rest of the building. We were alone and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Having settled that I looked down to see what had hurt so much when I turned. Confusion raced across my mind as I saw a scalpel jammed into the side of my stomach, blood coating half of my left leg. The second I realised it was there, pain started radiating from the wound. Figuring it must have happened in the final stages of the fight, I took a few second to channel chakra to area causing the muscle to clench unnaturally around the knife, reducing blood loss.

My whole body sagged, and a wave of nausea mixed with exhaustion washed over me. I just wanted to crawl into hole and sleep for a century but I rejected the desire. Turning my attention back to the man in beneath me I nearly vomited at the sight. His eyes were a bloody mess, his mouth and chin were coated in chunky mucus and his ears trickled. In his stillness, I appraised what I had done to another human being, my stomach suddenly treacherous.

Snapping my thoughts into place, I gave my head a little shake. I would need to secure the enemy and then call for help. My fingers flowed through four seals and the chakra I brought to my hands flared a pale green. I placed one hand on the man's head and the second on his solar plexus. Running the diagnostic jutsu through him, I determined the man was not dead but in a coma. The swelling in his brain told me the man would probably live an hour more if he went without treatment.

Trying to remain as clinical as possible I took his first finger into my hands and with a twist, I broke it. I quickly came to the realization that there was a world of difference between reading about the correct way to secure a captive and actually doing it.

I steadily went through all of his digits, each snap sending a shiver up my spine. Finally, I ran the diagnostic technique on him to confirm that he was in fact still in a coma. Relatively happy I rose on legs that shock so thoroughly my teeth chattered and finally I was able to appraise the room with my eyes.

It was in fact a cellar. The far wall had massive fissures running through it from my windblast technique. The table had been sent to the floor in our struggles and there was the gruesome sight of a skinned male lying on the floor next to it. The fight had scattered the contents of the room all over so it was hard to determine the exact use of the room however, what I could gather did not look good.

Scrolls lined with blueprints where everywhere. The room was peppered with an assortment of cutting implements and a strange thick substance seemed to have cracked from a large container and was now covering a portion of the floor. Finally, I spotted what I was looking for. Peeking out from underneath a toppled drawer, I saw the gleaming metal of my wheelchair.

Falling twice on the journey I covered the distance to the chair. After lifting the draw set I felt a huge bout of relief at seeing all of my belongings heaped together. I didn't bother getting into my clothes. In the state I was in that would take far too long and time was of the essence. Instead, I placed my hand underneath the seat of my chair and with a careful application of chakra I released the storage seal hidden there.

With a quiet poof, my metal cane appeared in my hand. I would have preferred the chair right now but I needed the mobility (however limited) and plus I needed to get up those stairs. From one of my pouches I withdrew and exploding tag and some heavy-duty wire. After making my way back over to my captive, I carefully used the wire to tie his broken fingers backwards and attach them to his wrists. I then pulled his arms behind him and tied his wrists to his ankles. Finishing, I stuck a low yeild exploding tag over his manatasian tenketsu bundle. Satisfied that if he somehow managed to wake he would be unable to move and that if he gathered any chakra at all he would blow himself up I started to make my way out of the cellar.

The journey out of the house passed as a disjointed blur. My vision swayed and my walk was unsteady. Every step sent a wave of pain through my legs and collecting in my wounded side. All I really seemed to be aware of was the sound of my own laboured breathing. I staggered outside, the morning sun greeting me. Griping the second exploding tag I had taken with me, I prepared it and flung it skywards. The deafening bang sounded almost heavenly to me and knowing a patrol unit would investigate soon I allowed myself to sink into unconsciousness.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4

Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage sat in his office frowning at the report on his desk.

A troubling situation had just gotten a whole lot worse. A stationary shop owner; one Touji Mizuki, had just been found to be a sleeper agent by none other than Naruto.

Reports suggested Naruto had stumbled on Mizuki preparing to use a forbidden skin sheathing technique to leave the village with the information he had collected over the years. The information had consisted of astonishingly detailed maps of the entire village. It had included blueprints of all the major buildings and the public evacuation points. There had even been estimations on how to find the village hidden in the massive rainforest that covered half the continent.

Thankfully, those had been incorrect.

The Hokage would still follow protocol and have Yamato and the remaining Senju alter the forest surrounding the village. Clean up teams would be dispatched to ensure there were no trails that led to the village. It was troubling that a sleeper agent had managed to gather so much information right under Internal Security's nose.

It was troubling, but it was conceivable. The Hokage could think of at least five sleeper agents he had successfully installed into the various villages

The fact that Touji Mizuki had been assassinated within less than a day of his discovery was truly alarming.

It had happened despite the heavy guard his hospital bed had been placed under. Preliminary reports stated that he died from his injuries. However, full autopsy had shown an expert assassination had taken place. Internal security would be chaotic for at least the next month. They now knew they had at least one more sleeper (or worse still a traitor) and they were fully trained.

Most sleeper agents were installed by psychologically indoctrinating children then sending them, untrained in the shinobi arts with plenty of scrolls designed for self- teaching. Ninja villages simply wouldn't accept residency applications from people trained by other villages. Even when they did, the level of scrutiny they put the applicant under would certainly discover any hidden agenda. The situation led to sleeper agents often being very skilled in techniques but not fully trained. Unfortunately, whoever had carried out the assassination was trained to the highest level. It would have taken a minimum of Special Jounin skill level to pull off an assassination like that.

Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed and placed the file into its proper place. It was getting late and he was going home. The village would just have to cope without him for a couple of hours. 

As he made his way home, he allowed his mind to drift to Naruto. Thinking about his actions brought a swell of pride to Hiruzen. Naruto had shown himself to be more than ready to begin his path in Ninja life. Hiruzen had personally read each of Naruto's six debriefs and what stood out to both him and Internal Security was the shear diligence in his actions.

When the internal patrol team had initially investigated the stationary shop, they were shocked to see a captive with perfect, level four restraints. The debriefing reports showed that Naruto had the correct mindset needed for a combatant Ninja role. Hiruzen knew that in many ways, the mindset of a ninja was what mattered the most.

He had already placed a waver on Naruto's file that would grant him acceptance on his application for a Gennin Combatant Ninja position despite his scores. He actually would have done it anyway, but the events that had transpired gave the perfect excuse.

The Sandaime Hokage decided that he would personally deliver Naruto's acceptance letter tomorrow. It would be good to see Naruto's reaction. 

* * *

As I marched along with my classmates in the procession, I could hardly tear the grin from my face. The Konoho Graduation ceremony was a grand affair and last week, if anyone had asked me if I was looking forward to it, my answer would have been a vehement no.

But that was a week ago. Just seven days ago, when I looked into my future I could only despair.

My good fortune was all down to a silver haired man who had tried to kill me.

Our entire year group of around 50 teenagers marched along with me. The deep sound of massive drums synchronized each of our footfalls. The graduation march occurred every year, starting at the Academy Building and ending in the Polos Amphitheatre. It was a large event, with people crammed onto the pavements whilst we marched through the streets. All of us were dressed in loose white, hooded robes tied with golden thread. We marched with one hand gripping an ornate kunai to our chests with our heads high in military precision.

None of that mattered to me. Neither did the large crowd. The reason for my happiness was the twofold: my place in the procession and the black band of the Konoho forehead protector holding up my hood.

Of our year group, all of us had graduated and the white robes signified that. At the back of our procession, eight students marched who had graduated but hadn't been accepted into any formal position amongst the Konoho military ranks. There hoods were unadorned and even as I glanced at them, I noticed they marched with lowered heads, cowls obscuring their faces. A week ago, I was certain that was where I was going to march in the procession.

In front of them marched the students who had all managed to make last minute applications to various departments when there combatant ninja applications had been rejected. Each of these students wore Konoho forehead protectors attached to bands of colours relating to their new department. Green for the Medical corps, red for the research division and blue for internal security, took up a good chunk of the student body.

Right at the front of the procession our group of 15 students marched with deep black forehead protectors, heads held high. We marched with the knowledge that we were who the crowds had come to see. Even the slight tingling in my legs could not put a dampener on my spirits.

I wore the black forehead protector of a Gennin Combatant Ninja. Even looking at the very front of the procession at Sasuke did not stop my grin.

Sasuke had been announced our year valedictorian and therefore marched at the head of the procession in deep gold robes in contrast to our white. Instead of an ornate kunai, he held a long pole atop which the Konoho flag was attached.

The procession ended with the drummers and Sasuke marching us into a large, ornate amphitheatre. We filled into a neat three-row column with Sasuke at our head. Sharply, we turned as one and with our free hand, gave a salute to the balcony where I could just make out the form of The Hokage.

We stood to attention as the First Firearm Shimura Danzou; head of the Internal Security Division addressed us. What followed was dry speech after speech about the importance of our journeys as academy graduates. Tuning the speeches out, I subtly let my eyes drift to the seats. I saw they were filled with family of the students and a few dignitaries. My eyes rested for a moment on the Hokage box. My heart filled with an almost indescribable mix of emotions. I felt, pride, gratitude and a sense of determination in equal measure.

The Hokage had placed a waver on my file and had given me an official commendation for my actions in apprehending the nameless sleeper agent I had encountered. His waver had meant that my subpar marks would be accepted and that I could realise my dream. I was determined Hiruzen-jiji would _never_ regret going out on a limb for me.

With that thought in my head, I tuned out the bland speeches as I silently began listing the 26 classifications of illusionary techniques and how the detect them. 

* * *

Even as I sat, chatting to Sakura my heart pounded and I fought to keep a grin from splitting my face. I literally could not believe my luck. Not only had I been accepted into a Gennin combatant Ninja position but also, I had Sakura on my assigned cell.

Even having Sasuke as my other team member could only really be a positive thing. It meant that they would be taking this cell seriously. Plus, Sasuke was so introverted and anti-social it meant Sakura would only really have me to talk to.

"Naruto, it is not funny!" Sakura said, scandalised by my amusement.

"Seriously, I cannot believe the cheek of Kiba. I mean he has pinched my bum before but this was a whole other level. His hand just cupped my ass and... lingered. The dog! It's like he has become immune to a good slap."

Even as she told me the story, her eyes danced and a smile played at her lips. Sakura always took the small things in good spirit.

"So what do you think Naruto, if he is moving up a level should I graduate from slapping him to punching him in the face?" I mirrored her half smile as I replied

"Well Kiba needs to learn some self-control so you should do whatever you feel is necessary."

I paused for a moment and let the laugh I had been fighting spill out.

"Naruto, it isn't funny! " She admonished, slapping my arm lightly. I threw my arms up in mock surrender,

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't take your anger out on me. If I'm going to get beaten about it's only fair that I get to enjoy your ass too."

"As if" Sakura replied, lightly hitting me again but I took careful note of the smile still playing at her lips. Feeling brave I responded,

"You should cut Kiba a little slack though, he is only human. Really, it is your own fault."

"Ahh, the perils of being the perfect specimen of female beauty." She finally cracked, a full smile covering her face. Turning, she raised her voice to cover the distance of the room,

"Sasuke, you still alive over there? You are more than welcome to join us teamie."

We were in a relatively large unused office. Sasuke had chosen to stand across the room at the large window starring silently out at the village and the vast surrounding forest. Sakura and I were sat on a burgundy leather sofa by the door. Sakura had entered first and immediately hopped onto the sofa. She sat on the armrest, feet on the seats. Within seconds, she had kicked off her sandals exposing neatly painted toenails to the world. I noted all this even as I entered slowly scouring the unknown room for threats. Sasuke entered much like me; on high alert. I had sat down on the sofa after I was sufficiently comfortable that the room held no immediate threats and that I had a good mental layout of the space. Upon sitting Sakura had immediately plopped her bare feet into my lap and drawn me into conversation.

For all that I like Sakura (and that was a lot) I was fully aware that in many ways she was thoroughly unprepared for a combatant role. I knew from the second I realised we would be on a squad together that I would do everything I could to protect her. The fact that she treated me as an equal without hesitation in every instance made her a precious person to me.

Halfway through Sasuke's reply all conversation stopped as suddenly the door started to move inwards.

The door opened and the man who would be our sensei walked into the room. The man moved in complete, effortless silence. The fact that none of us had detected his arrival until the door had started to move attested to that. He had dark brown, glossy hair peppered by the occasional streak of gray. His hair reached to the middle of his back in a style usually worn by girls.

His skin was the first shocking thing about him.

It was the unnatural pure ivory of paper. The contrast of his long dark hair only accentuated this bone white complexion. Centring his face were the most disturbing pair of eyes I had ever seen. His irises sparkled a reflective golden that had hypnotic effect even when seen for even the briefest of periods. Neatly bisecting his irises were a pair of reptilian, elongated pupils. He blinked, shocking us further with his eyelids that closed from side to side rather than up and above.

As I surveyed his face, I spotted the slight looseness of skin and the occasional wrinkle, judging the man to be between 40 – 60 years old.

The man wore loose robes tied by rope creating plenty of hidden spaced in a style I myself preferred. He moved in a seamless fashion coming to a stop as we hurried to stand before him at attention. I purposely slowed myself down so Sakura would have enough time to jump back into her sandals without being noticeably behind.

Within seconds we stood before him ready to officially meet the man who would likely influence our careers the most.

His face softened into a smile which helped a little as he said,

"Hello, my apprentices." Unfortunately his voice was just as creepy as his face, it was deep with an odd rasp to it. Even his way of holding syllables put me on edge.

"Please, please at ease." This allowed us all to relax from our formal stances. Sakura took it as an invitation to cross back to sofa and sit down. I was hesitant as I watched his face for his reaction but he just smiled saying,

"An excellent idea." He grabbed himself a free chair from the main desk and sat down in front of the sofa

"Sit boys. Make yourselves comfortable," he said.

Both Sasuke and I made our way to the sofa, sensing it would be rude not to when he had already seated himself in front of it. For a few seconds longer than normal, the man just smiled whilst looking at us. After a moment he said,

"It is good to finally see you face to face. The Hokage approached me personally about accepting you three as my students." That sent a thrill of pride racing up my spine. If this was who I suspected, we were extraordinarily lucky.

"After studying your files I think it will be an honour to nurture such potential."

The serpentine man paused for a moment, his tone fell an octave and his voice gained an official ring.

"Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke," he paused and looked each of us in the eye as he said our names.

"I am Kantasi Orochimaru and I will be your sensei on this three man team."

Sakura and I glanced at each other and could not help but give massive grins. I spotted Sasuke on the end of the sofa giving himself a small nod of satisfaction.

"Well now that is settled I would like to invite you all back to my house. You must all be tired from today's ceremony. Drinks and libation for all!" We quickly agreed. It was still late afternoon and turning down the first invitation of our sensei seemed like a faux pas.


	6. Chapter 6

_A.N.- Writing this chapter was like shitting a melon. Not a nice small Galia, but one of those fucking massive Watermelons. Problem is, I think it might stink as well._

_I've tried to polish this turd as much as I can but frankly, I got a little bored with it. I wanna move on to the better, upcoming stuff. So I'm leaving it for now. I hope it doesn't put you off the story. _

_Also, if anyone is interested in being a beta for this please pm me._

**Chapter 5**

Orochimaru sensei engaged us in light conversation as we made our way to his house. Our nervousness dropped away as he roused debate on the most bizarre subjects. I found myself laughing even as I insisted that given infinite time, a dog would learn to juggle before a cat. Even Sasuke couldn't resist being included in the conversation. Some of Orochimaru sensei's questions seemed so silly and yet others seemed to hold hidden tests.

Within no time, we arrived at a surprisingly modest looking house with ample grounds. Only on entering was it apparent that its' owner held a position affording them the greater luxuries in life. I had expected to be greeted by a family or maybe even a house girl, but the home appeared to be empty.

Carefully lighting sconces along the hallway our sensei welcomed us to his home, explaining that he preferred using firelight to electrical bulbs. He walked the three of us into a beautiful room with sheer lace curtains surrounding the walls. The lace, together with the deep red floor and dark wood furnishings, made the room very comforting.

We sat on a giant sofa circling half the room, making ourselves comfortable whilst our sensei lit candles and incense. After he was satisfied with the room, he left us with the promise of libation.

The second he left Sakura launched into a spiel about how awesome it would be to be taught by one of the Sannin. She made sure to iterate how cool he was,

"Even though I thought he was something from one of my nightmares at first."

I was a little more reserved in expressing my glee, but I couldn't help but agree.

* * *

Thirty minutes later saw the four of us in a relaxed atmosphere playing a casual game of poker, sipping drinks. We weren't playing for money, instead each time one of us lost we had to answer a personal question decided by the winner. The only thing our sensei demanded was that we were completely honest in our answers- though we retained the right to refuse a question. The mood stayed light and friendly.I was certain that our sensei deliberately lost the most frequently. He was far more willing to give information about himself than we were. He appeared to be completely unflappable, answering any question we threw at him.

"Yes, I have begged for my life. The last time I had to do it was more recently than you might imagine." Orochimaru answered.

I remained silent, stopping myself from asking just how recently.

"Really! How recently?" I cracked a smile. You could always trust Sakura to cut through the bullshit and get to the balls of a matter -etiquette be damned.

"Eleven years ago, actually" he said, unfazed as ever.

"What? That can't be right. You would have been in your prime; who the hell could make _you_ beg for your life?"

This time he graced the three of us with a smile and said,

"Now, now. Naruto won the game and I have already answered his question. Plus, I'm still shocked that you have so little compunctions detailing your sexual activity, yet you won't tell us if you dye your hair."

She just rolled her eyes and corrected, "Sexual inactivity you mean."

A few light-hearted rounds later, Orochimaru sensei got up and started clearing the table, waving off our offers of help. When he returned he wore a serious expression and carried in his right hand a folder. Instantly sensing a change in mood, he effortlessly garnered our attention. Seating himself, he said,

"Well I think that we have all gotten to know each other relatively well and that has been entirely deliberate on my part."

It was unsurprising; his attempts to get us to open up to each other had been transparent (though still successful).

"You need to understand that in a combatant cell the bond between teammates is the single most important thing. You will all need to instinctively trust each other with your lives, but until you can do that, you will need to trust me." All humour had fled his face and he delivered his words as if they were the single most important things we would hear.

He paused for a moment to watch for our reactions. There was a long, awkward moment, with the three of us unsure of how to react to the statement. Suddenly, Orochimaru's whole presence transformed as his face twisted in anger.

"Even as I say that, I can see you aren't taking my words seriously!"

My heart rate jumped at the sudden swing in attitude. The last three hours had allowed me to become relatively accustomed to our sensei unsettling appearance. Looking at his face twisted in sudden anger served as a plain reminder of just who this man was.

Orochimaru sensei closed his eyes and took a very deliberate, calming breath. I used the opportunity to glance at Sakura, whose face mirrored the confusion I felt.

"Okay, I want the three of you to close your eyes with me." When he spoke again he sounded calm and collected. We all complied, though I remained a little wary of our sensei's sudden anger.

"I want you all to imagine that you are on a normal c-rank mission where the three of you are asked to escort a messenger carrying a flash drive between a lab and a corporate building."

It was easy to imagine the scenario. I had read many journals vaguely describing similar missions. Not wanting to further anger our sensei, I did my best to visualise the mission.

We would have left the hidden village in total silence. We would have made our way through the forest, careful not to leave any disturbance that would allow an enemy to find our hidden home. We would have travelled to the main city Hanema, Land of three of us would be excited at finally viewing a city so different from our own. Where the hidden villagers stuck to tradition designed to foster excellence, the city would be all about convenience and excess. We would see skyscrapers, cars, trains and televisions. Everywhere there would be a distraction. With our hard-learnt focus, we would tune all these out and concentrate on the skinny lab tech carrying the flash drive.

We would insist he walk the 2 miles from the lab to the corporation headquarters, citing that all other modes of transport were less defensible. Even as I pictured the surroundings, I could hear our sensei's voice elaborating on the story.

"A second corporation wants this flash drive and have managed to buy information on the mission. They know your leaving time and an idea of your skill sets. They set up an ambush, and knowing your party size the second corporation decides to overwhelm you with numbers. "

I frowned for a moment, starting to glimpse what our sensei was getting at. In the scenario painted, any enemy ninja would be under strict orders not to kill the lab technician; they would only rob the flash drive. On the other hand, we were shinobi and thus the enemy had carte blanche when dealing with the "real" world Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke did not truly exist. We could be well known in the correct circles but they would never be any paper trail. No birth certificate and there would certainly never be a death certificate either.

"You end up fighting superior numbers for your life. As you fight, you realize that if even one of you falls the remaining two will be overcome. You may be able to trust your own skills but your life will not depend on them. Your life will depend on the skills of your team mates."

"In this scenario if you don't trust your team mates skills you will overstretch yourself trying to take on too many enemies at once, or trying to finish a fight too quickly. Without trust you will become injured yourself, dooming the other team mates you thought lesser than you."

"There are thousands of different variations on that, you could be keeping an eye on a team mate during the battle because you want to protect them."

"You could suspect a team mate of selling you out and be distracted watching them for betrayal."

"You will need to trust that I will not send you on a mission your team isn't ready for. You need to trust that I will improve you and your teammates' skills to the point that you can effortlessly trust them to protect your back. You will need to have true faith in the competence of your teammates."

A silent moment from our Sensei let us know that he had finished illustrating his point and we opened our eyes again. The whole speech sent warning bells in my mind. Just earlier today, I had made a promise that I would watch out for Sakura- simply because I did not believe she was ready. What I should have been promising was to make sure she _was _ready.

The parts about trying to do everything yourself was clearly aimed at Sasuke. It was plain to me that he viewed himself as better than either Sakura or I. It wasn't overt arrogance, but I had painstakingly memorised tome after tome on body language. I had noted his hidden confusion at me being giving a combatant role, but I had squashed the maelstrom of emotions it triggered in me in favour of enjoying my graduation ceremony. I tried to convince myself that my rolling stomach was just anger at the arrogant shit. I deserved this position; my handicap didn't matter.

Orochimaru-sensei continued speaking after a moment,

"The simple fact is- trust is based on truth. You will need to believe in your heart that my only interest in you is protecting your lives, nurturing your skills and helping you attain your goals. If you don't truly believe that you will start to rely on yourselves."

"Now if I am supposed to reasonably expect your trust, it is only fair that you know who I am." With this proclamation, he silently handed each of us a bundle of stapled forms which we begun to read.

A moment later my head shot up,

"This is an A class information release form" I said in shock. I left out the question,

_Why the fuck are three fresh Gennin being asked to sign one?_

There was an odd smile on Orochimaru sensei's lips as he responded,

"You may not be aware but it has been a long time since I took on any students. When I agreed to become your sensei, I had one stipulation."

I wondered what concession the Hokage would have made in order to get one of the Sannin to take on pupils.

"I insisted that I be able to draw from the good and bad choices I have made in my life. Some of the most important lessons I have learnt have been the product of the worst decisions in my life. I want you three to understand where I went wrong. If I am to take on students again, I want to be sure they don't walk the path that nearly destroyed me."

His words were followed by a very heavy silence. It was immediately apparent that whatever we were about to be told was very serious. Feeling a little awkward about meeting our sensei's eye after that statement, I focused on the release form.

It was essentially a gag order. I was actually a little surprised at how plain the wording in the form was. I had always expected an important document like this would be filled with legalese. Instead, what I read was plain and simple.

We would have to be in the confines of a level 4 privacy seal array or higher when the information was given.

We were _never_ to discuss the information with anyone, including parties who already knew.

Failure to comply would be punished by death. If we spread the information to a non-vetted person, they would either be killed or undergo a memory purging.

That sent a small shiver up my spine. Many considered a memory purging worse than death. The process destroyed _every _memory a person had. It left the person with the same capabilities of a newborn baby. Worse still, the person usually remained that way until death.I spent a moment considering refusing to sign the form. I discarded the notion almost immediately. I couldn't complain that my career was advancing faster than I anticipated. Decision made, I flipped the paper over and saw the circular sealing array inked on the back. Gathering some chakra into my fingertips, I placed my hand in the centre of the array and prepared myself.

Instantly I felt a sensation like a part of my mind was being sucked along a tube of light. With dizzying twists and turns, I felt the sealing array come alive.

I had always been especially sensitive to seals. If I was near enough on its activation, it almost felt like they were a part of my nervous system. It made understanding how they worked much easier for me. I knew my sensitivity to seals was the reason I had detect the activation of the privacy array of the sleeper agent even with over a mile of separation.

Consent given, I handed back the form to our sensei. I noticed that it now had a detailed handprint on the back. It was a mark that would only have appeared had I truthfully agreed to the terms of the contract. After Orochimaru collected the forms from Sasuke and Sakura, he gave us a solemn nod and got up again.

He placed the documents on a small coffee table and then made his way to the centre of the room. He stood in the centre of the room and starting making handseals. Realising what he was doing, my eyes moved to the periphery of the room. I felt a moment of confusion when I failed to see a sealing array inked onto the floor. Suddenly I felt the tugging sensation in my mind as a privacy sealing array activated. This one was infinitely more complex than the little identification and consent array on the forms.

I felt almost dizzy as I sensed a seal that warped the time space continuum. Any energy leaving this room would be pushed into _nothingness. _

No that wasn't quite right.

It just felt like nothingness. The energy would be pushed sideways out of the 5 dimensions we shinobi were capable of interacting with. Feeling the array, I knew it was actually on a wallpaper border hidden behind the lace. Curiosity, got the better of me and I couldn't help but ask,

"Which dimension is it being pushed into?"

My question was met with blank stares of confusion from Sakura and Sasuke. Orochimaru sensei however was very still, looking me dead in the eye.

"You felt it?" He asked, surprise colouring his voice.

"Yeah. I'm pretty attuned to sealing." I replied.

There was another long pause with Orochimaru-sensei watching me, an unreadable look in his eye.

"Yes, you would be." He said finally, drawing confusion from me.

"Naruto, what are you on about?"

Sakura's voice brought me back to reality. I looked to our sensei to explain to her. However, he was still looking at me and instead made a motion for me to explain. _He is testing me._

"He just activated an advanced sealing array. I'm pretty sure it was a privacy one." I said.

Sakura just rolled her eyes and looked at me.

"Yes that's pretty obvious. What did you mean about dimensions?"

"Well most sealing arrays work on the premise of converting or redirecting energy. A privacy array has to deal with the sound and light energy leaving an area. Possibly the chakra as well actually." I felt at ease explaining something I knew well.

"A rudimentary privacy array will warp any sound or light leaving an area. Anyone outside it would hear a jumbled mess of noise. They would probably see a swirling mass of light as well but most privacy arrays are used in enclosed spaces anyway."

At this point Orochimaru seemed to drop seamlessly into teacher mode, asking Sakura and Sasuke,

"Can you see what the problem with that is?"

Both of them were quiet for a moment, thinking out the question. I had to crush the instinct to answer.

"It would be obvious to anyone outside that a privacy array was in effect." Sasuke confidently answered after a moment.

"Very good Sasuke. Yes, that is the problem with a rudimentary array such as that. By their nature, privacy arrays are used in unsafe areas. Letting your enemy know you have secrets is unwise." Orochimaru then turned back to me, silently asking me to continue.

"The more common privacy array will transform all energy leaving an area into a less conspicuous energy type. The more exotic the end energy form, the more advanced the seal. Changing the energy all into light is actually easiest but that has the same problem as you said Sasuke"

I gave a small motion at Sasuke, acknowledging his point.

"The more advanced arrays change energy into forms either higher or lower than light on the electromagnetic spectrum. In order of difficulty, you could change the energy into Infra red/heat, ultra violet light, microwaves, X-ray's, radio waves or gamma rays. As far as I knew, a level four privacy array transfers the energy into either Gamma rays or X-rays. The array sensei just activated had a totally different mode of action."

I continued at a slower pace, as I started to leave theory I was sure about. I took a moment to explain what I had felt.

"As far as we know, there are 12 dimensions in reality. Ordinary people are capable of interacting with the first four dimensions. The first three dimensions are spacial, the fourth is time. Shinobi can interact with the fifth dimension, where spiritual energy comes from.

I think that seal pushes any energy leaving this area outside of those five dimensions. The sound would still be there, but anyone outside simply wouldn't be able to detect it. I honestly don't know what level of sealing that is."

Finished, I turned to our sensei to see his reaction. His face remained unreadable for a moment before he gave me a large smile.

"Very well explained Naruto. I see that the 100 mark on your written paper was no fluke." With his comment I saw Sakura's head whip around, as she gave me an awed look.

"To answer your questions, the energy is actually being pushed into the 8th dimension and this is a level 6 privacy array." I nodded and made sure to file the information away.

"Okay, to begin I suppose it would make sense to find out what you think you know about me."

I immediately looked to Sakura. Living under military control meant that information was restricted, especially in written form. I knew the public and D class libraries like the back of my hand but the information was heavily censored. Piecing together anything of use typically required cross-referencing between 8- 10 books. Stories on legends passed far more easily through word of mouth. Sakura being the most social of the three of us, was a veritable mine of gossip and rumour.

"Well you were a student of the Hokage together with the legendary medic Tsunade and the Gama Sennin Jiraiya" Sakura seemed to pause and look to Orochimaru for approval. He smiled at her, motioning to continue.

"Well you were all kickass! Apparently, during the Second Shinobi War, you three were Chuunin in a small clash of troops. You were just doing your thing when, bam! The leader of the Hidden Rain; Hanzo the Salamander turns up."

Even though I already knew the story I couldn't help but find myself engrossed in Sakura's narrative. She brought so much life to gossip.

"Obviously Konoho were like- _fuuuuuck!_"

"He just started to rip into us, tearing apart a battalion single-handed. You three signalled an emergency retreat but you stayed behind to hold him off."

That part of the tale had always confused me. Why would three Chuunin, even talented ones, be given the authority to signal a retreat? More confusing still, why would they be tasked with holding off an assailant of that calibre?

"Everyone thought- _Well that's the last time we will be seeing them._ But you three managed it. At Chuunin, you managed to drive off one of the world's strongest Ninja."

In sync, the three of us looked to our sensei to confirm or deny the validity of the story. Instead he just gave us a wry smile and asked,

"Anything else?"

This time I spoke up,

"You have been awarded five ornamental needles, the highest military commendation. After the Second Shinobi War ended, you resigned from front line duty as a combatant ninja and headed the Research Division for seven years before retiring early."

Orochimaru-sensei nodded saying to himself,

"What I expected. Well I suppose to start of my story the first thing I will ask you to do is disregard all the heroic deeds you've heard me do.

For a moment, our legendary sensei looked quite vulnerable. He nervously avoided looking us in the eye as he began to tell his story,

"Do any of you know about the Kantasi Clan?"

The three of us silently shook our heads, not wanting to interrupt him,

"The Kantasi Clan lived in the Sandari Rainforest long before the Leaf Village was founded in it. We were well known for our connection with snakes; much like the Inuzuka family with their dogs."

"Over the generations we underwent several transformations, increasing the bond with our partners. However, the technique that increased our genetic similarities to snakes has a weakness. It leads to increased genetic uniformity within the clan. Who can tell me the problem with that?"

His story had triggered a memory, and I realised I had read about the clan in passing,

"Genetic uniformity means that the clan would have the same inherent strengths and weaknesses. It becomes an issue in situations like of an outbreak of illness."

Orochimaru sensei continued,

"Yes, and that is exactly what happened. There was an outbreak of a rare flu virus. Our clan in particular seemed to be very susceptible to it. I was the only survivor, despite all of the Leaf's medical expertise. I was eight."

Out of curiosity, I surreptitiously looked at Sasuke to see his reaction to our sensei's history. He was looking at our sensei in an intense gaze. I looked away before he noticed me.

"Everyone I knew was gone and I quietly hated the ease with which they passed. They hadn't died in battle or in some grand fashion. They simply died of illness. It was so weak; so _mortal._"

"I will admit I went through my schooling and early career with a chip on my shoulder after that. I felt that I had to make-up for the weakness of my clan. To prove that unlike them, I was strong."

"I had an interest in any biological research that increased the durability of the human body. I felt the human form was flawed. It was..._imperfect._"

Orochimaru sensei paused for a moment. He seemed reluctant to continue, but shook his head and continued with the tale,

"I secretly began to conduct experiments on animals during my early career. When the Second Shinobi War picked up, I started to actively fear death."

I was shocked by that.

_A shinobi should never fear death_- It was one of the first tenants of our way of life. It was how we remained clear-headed whilst being in constant danger. You had to see beyond your own life.

"The Shinobi War presented me with a unique opportunity. I had easy access to plenty of human bodies and my fear motivated me to continue. My research progressed in leaps and bounds with human tissue. I managed to perfect many techniques that aided me immensely and I began to glimpse what I thought would be the ultimate being."

He gave a small, self-deprecating smile.

"The further I progressed, the bolder I became. It got to the point where I even abducted living leaf shinobi to test out incomplete theories. I was involved in the worst and most depraved research. But it all came to an end."

"My teammate Tsunade lost her brother and nephew suddenly. It was the opportunity I had been looking for. Tsunade was an unparalleled medical genius; I could scarcely imagine what we would have been capable of together. So I used her grief to turn her."

More than anything else in the story, that touched a nerve in me. It showed his mindset at the time. It was common for participants in war to have psychotic breakdowns from viewing that level of death. Our sensei had only seen opportunity. Seeing a long-standing teammate suffering and viewing it exactly the same way was even worse to me.

"It was a disgusting thing to do, but it was very effective. In many ways, she became worse than me. She was absolutely obsessed with recreating a forbidden technique of the Second Hokage that was rumoured to raise the dead. It was my turning point"

"Seeing someone I actually cared about become so consumed by grief was hard. She lost all sense of secrecy in her madness. Eventually I was forced to make a choice."

"For her sake, I went to the Hokage and confessed everything I had done. I gave over all my research and begged for our lives."

Our sensei was only briefly outlining his history but I had a talent for reading between the lines- censored texts were excellent practice. His actions didn't suggest he was capable of such a selfless act. The only reason I could imagine, was that he actually loved her.

"The investigation on me was...severe."

Severe was an understatement for what I imagine happened.

"Sensei's disappointment hurt more than I thought, but he saw I genuinely regretted what I had done. He broke all protocol and showed mercy. He retired the both of us and gave Tsunade a waiver to leave the village for recuperation."

Frankly, I thought he was incredibly lucky to be alive. Anybody else would have been executed without question. I could only guess the massive input he had in the Second war and the fact that he had voluntarily come forward had saved him.

"I have spent the last eleven years trying to atone for my transgressions. I eventually managed to earn back the trust of the Hokage but the bonds between my teammates were irreparably shattered. In my bid to realise a dream of mine, I lost sight of everyone and everything around me."

An invisible weight seemed to lift of our sensei as he finished his tale. He looked at us with solemn eyes as he said,

"I have paid careful attention to each of your personal reports. After reading them, I came to the decision to share my past with you. I am not saying that you shouldn't have dreams, just that you should never allow them to blind you or cripple your morality."

I was quietly irritated by the assumption that I was capable of following the same path as he did. On reflection, I decided that he had mostly told us for Sasuke's sake.

* * *

_Regrets are forever. _

Wounds heal, bones mend, regrets are forever – regrets don't heal, they whisper and dig deep into our souls.

– Joe6991, Harry Potter and the Heartlands of Time


End file.
